Complaint Review: Randy Robins ila Congdon Creative Ambitions - Internet

I contracted with Randy Robins, ceo of Creative Ambitions, to provide me with SEO services in August 2011 (our transaction was conducted via elance.com). My project objectives were simple: I had 40 affiliate websites that I needed to drive traffic to by getting them ranked at the top of the major search engines. Mr. Robins seemed to have the tools to get me there. Here are a few of the things he told me to win my business:

I am very familiar with affiliate sites and so forth and know exactly how to promote and service them. Randy Robins,

I am a corporate Developer so you don't just get the reqular marketor and SEO firm, I have clear training and understanding of how to create investment portfolios out of the websites we are working on for you.-Randy Robins

Basicly for every $100 you invest in me you more or so get $500 in return, and in cases 10x the intial investment depending on how far you drag out the investment Randy Robins,

"I have been to your sites and am familiar with these type...I have a similiar site and it does very very well finacially... the advantage here is that I am familiar with how to make these sites work, and I have the plans still from my sites."-Randy Robins, August 18, 2011

 "Theres no question in my mind you will be earning money in the first month"- Randy Robins, August 23, 2011

From August to November, I sunk $22,500 into this business and currently I have no ROI. Of the 40 affiliate websites I paid Mr. Robins to do work on, only one is on the first page of Google and thats only for one keyword. He not only missed budget, he missed deadlines, goals constantly changed and I feel what was promised and what was delivered were two very different things. In September, Mr. Robins promised he could deliver 72,000 visitors per month for all 40 sites to date, Ive only received 2,000 for 4 months. 

Mr. Robins began distancing himself from things he stated as it became apparent that this business was failing and I was running out of money.

If I would of clearly understood that you had a $22,000 budget and wanted me to brind this exact dollar amount to profit I would of never recommended 40 sites as this is totally ludicrous Randy Robins, November 18, 2011

My question is if he was the corporate developer he claimed to be, why wouldnt he ask what my total budget for this project was in the beginning? I also blatantly told him before I released a finally payment to him of $10k that this business had to generate revenue in November or else it would fail. What was Mr Robins retort? He put on his sales hat and convinced me to move forward. 

In summary, besides the above mentioned grievances a few other things bother me about Mr. Robins and his company. He did admit he was at least partially responsible for this business not working (I, of course, beg to differ he is a lot more responsible than he admits to being). Also, I am in the midst of trying to get a refund via the proper elance channels. Thus far, Mr. Robins has refused to grant me a refund because he claims the money was already spent on SEO work. What SEO work, I ask? I guess he is referring to the same SEO work which there is no proof he did judging by the status of my business. I also received no proof during the campaign that SEO progress was being made on individual sites. As for a remedy, Im looking for arbitration, and if that fails, a civil and possibly a criminal case. I am financially ruined because of this business and Randy knows this and feels no accountability. I think that says a lot about his character. 

Just an FYI, another tell tale sign of a scam is they never answer the number they gave you. I was given phone number 780-977-1512.